


Mutually Beneficial

by cptxrogers



Category: Marvel Ultimates
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bottom Steve Rogers, Casual Sex, M/M, Porn with Feelings, Smut, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Ults Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 17:17:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12392541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cptxrogers/pseuds/cptxrogers
Summary: An ode to how much Ults Steve likes getting fucked.





	Mutually Beneficial

It was a casual arrangement, that was the thing. This unspoken exchange between them, where Tony knew what Steve needed and gave it to him without him having to ask.

It had started after a discussion about Ultimates strategy and teamwork had dissolved into bickering, with Steve huffing out that Tony thought he was so insightful but he didn’t have any idea how to handle his teammates.

At that, Tony had glanced up at him with a flirtatious smirk, eyes sparkling with clarity rather than the usual drunken haze. “Try me,” he’d challenged, and Steve had snapped. He’d thrown Tony full force against the wall of the office, luckily without knocking him out, and kissed him with demanding insistence.

When they’d pulled apart, Tony’s eyes were wide with shock though he hid it quickly. “Why, Cap, I never would have thought you had it in you,” he said a little breathlessly.

And that would normally have made Steve feel smug, made him think he’d gained the upper hand in this game that Tony was playing. Tony was always teasing, testing him, pushing at parts of Steve that he would rather have stayed dormant, but finally Steve had shown him that he wasn’t afraid of a bit of innuendo. He’d been in the army, for god’s sake. He knew what men like Tony wanted, and he’d thought only to make a point, to demonstrate his lack of surprise at Tony’s antics. But now, with Tony panting up against the wall and the taste of him still on Steve’s lips, it only fed the hunger raging within him.

He’d stepped forward, pressing their bodies together and letting his burgeoning erection brush up against Tony’s thigh. “I know what I want, Stark,” he’d hissed in his ear, and Tony had shuddered.

“Mmm, you want to take advantage of my splendid hospitality, is that it?” Tony slipped back into his easy seduction routine impossibly fast. “Bend me over that desk and fuck me into oblivion?” Tony’s voice was smooth and practised.

“Close,” Steve had said, and Tony had eyed him curiously, “but I was thinking more about the other way around.” Steve took Tony’s hand and placed it on his ass, encouraging him to squeeze and spread his fingers.

“Oh.” Tony looked genuinely dumbfounded for a moment, but recovered with a delighted grin, grinding up against him in slow circles. “Okay, darling, I can work with that.”

 

* * *

 

“Are you sure-” Tony began, but Steve didn’t want to hear it. He wasn’t some fragile glass of a man who would break under a little rough handling.

“I want you to fuck me, Stark, and hurry the hell up with it,” he’d interrupted and Tony had looked like he might almost be scandalized. Steve was too keyed up to be embarrassed; the shame would come later. Right now he needed Tony with him, on him, in him, the desire pulsing through his body and making him reckless.

 

* * *

 

He liked the weight of Tony on top of him, pressing him down into the mattress and holding him close. He liked the feel of Tony’s fingers as they ran across his skin, the little bursts of pleasure as they moved around him and inside him. He liked it when Tony would angle his fingers so that they would rub up against that spot inside him, making his breath short and his blood race.

But most of all Steve liked the sensation of Tony burying himself inside his body, pushing past his walls and his defenses until they were one flesh, without an inch of air between them. That feeling of safety, of unity and having no space for guilt or shame, that was what he craved.

 

* * *

 

It was supposed to be a casual arrangement. No expectations, no commitments. Tony would turn up at Steve’s door, push him onto the bed, prep him like it was an art form, then screw him fast and hard, just how he liked it.

Then he would leave. While Steve was panting into the sheets and the scent of sex still hung heavy in the air, Tony would gather his clothes and slip out of the room.

They didn’t talk about it. What was there to say?

 

* * *

 

Steve needed it most when he came home from missions. Other soldiers would be exhausted after weeks away on deployment, but Steve could go for days without sleep. His heightened physiology made it impossible for him to come down, and adrenaline would pump through his system for days. He would be on edge, attuned to every stressor, snapping to instant combat awareness whenever he heard footsteps or felt a change in air temperature.

It was exhausting, and it was isolating. No one else experienced this - other soldiers were happy when they got to come home, not uncomfortable. He dealt with it the best he could, locking himself in the Ultimates’ gym for a couple of days and forcing himself through every workout he could think of.

By then he would need something else, and Tony would always know. When he emerged from the gym, at some point Tony would lay a hand on his arm in passing and give him a questioning look. He’d give a quick nod, then Tony would come to his room later that night. He’d take him apart with his tongue, his fingers, and his cock. For a moment, Steve would let the anger and the obligation and the tension go, and he would feel only Tony, fucking him like he wanted.

 

* * *

 

Steve couldn’t pretend like he was in control here, he knew that.

Tony was easy. He was a safe bet. He’d fuck anything that moved, and everyone knew it. Steve enjoyed having Tony there to scratch an inch, but he wasn’t deluded enough to think that he was anything special to Tony.

And Tony was… god, Tony was dying. The tumor that was eating through his brain could kill him at any moment. More than any of them, Tony lived perpetually on the verge of death. Steve had become highly practiced at failing to acknowledge that fact, as if by denying reality he could save off mortality with sheer force of will.

Tony was in no position to be the repository for Steve’s feelings of loneliness and his secret, shameful desire for companionship and domesticity. That was not what they did.

It was just sex, and there was no need to make it more complicated. Steve had learned the hard way not to pine after a relationship with a teammate, and this time he wasn’t going to get emotionally involved.

He wasn’t.

 

* * *

 

One of the problems Steve had to deal with was those damn robes Tony liked to wear, luscious silk which flitted when he walked and just barely covered his thighs. Every time he saw Tony in one Steve wanted to spread himself over his lap, wanted to push the edges of the robe up until it exposed his cock and to ride him right then and there.

When Steve walked into the Ultimates living room to see Tony lounged across the sofa and dressed only in silken royal purple robe, he felt his jaw set and his pulse picked up. He could almost have called what he felt anger - anger for Tony’s casual extravagance and his lack of reasonable propriety.

But he knew Tony, and himself, better than that. The heat that ran through him had more to do with desire than disapproval.

Tony turned to look at him, taking in his clenched fists and ramrod straight posture. Steve could tell straight away that Tony knew exactly what he had been thinking, and he pushed aside his skin-crawling guilt and raised his chin a fraction to meet Tony’s eyes. Tony smirked, and Steve turned and stalked out of the room, blush threatening to spill over his cheeks, feeling immensely foolish for how easily Tony could see through him.

Later that night though, long after everyone was asleep, there was a soft knock at his door and Tony slipped inside. He was still wearing that damn robe but he smiled at Steve with what appeared to be unguarded fondness.

“I know what you need, darling,” he said quietly as he crossed the room to Steve’s bed, pushed aside the covers, and trailed a hand down Steve’s chest.

Steve let himself be maneuvered onto his front, let Tony rub up against him so the the smooth, cool silk moved against his ass. He was grateful for Tony’s unrelenting chatter, telling him what he was going to do and how good he felt. It meant that Steve didn’t have to say anything - it wasn’t as if vocalizing his emotional state was Steve’s strong suit, so that was just as well - and he could talk with his body instead.

Tony prepped him carefully, long fingers working him open while his other hand rested between Steve’s shoulder blades, holding him in place. Steve began to unreel at the feeling of Tony’s fingers inside him, his muscles stretching to allow him access.

When Tony finally deemed him ready and pushed his cock deep inside, Steve sobbed with desperate relief and Tony pretended not to notice.

 

* * *

 

Dealing with his physical urges was simple. A firm hand, a warm body, a good fucking. Straightforward.

But the times that gave Steve pause were when he’d find himself smiling softly at Tony, admiring the elegant lines of his nose, wondering at the gentleness that he tried to hide under a layer of cynicism and booze. Steve would catch himself wondering what it would be like to wake up in bed together, eating breakfast, discussing their plans for the day.

Steve could be discreet about his desires; he had plenty of practice at that. But trying to hide his heart was proving more difficult than he’d ever imagined.

He’d push aside his feelings of longing and try to pretend that he didn’t wait up each night, anxious over whether Tony would visit him. He could have gone to Tony’s room himself, but that wasn’t how this worked. Their understanding was not reciprocal in that way.

So he waited, and tried to think of Tony’s late-night visits as an unexpected surprise when they did arrive rather than a loss when they did not.

This would do. It wasn’t everything he wanted, but it was enough.

 

* * *

 

It was enough until, suddenly, it wasn’t.

Steve had spotted Tony poking through the fridge in the Ultimates Mansion to grab several bottles of water before disappearing back to his room. He was unsteady on his feet, poorly balanced and moving with uncharacteristic clumsiness. He looked, frankly, extremely unwell.

Steve’s heart raced at the realization that not only was Tony suffering, but he was trying to hide it and stick it out on his own. This would not do. He debated going to find medical help, but decided that Tony was disdainful enough of doctors that he would be unlikely to listen to their advice.

Steve couldn’t fix Tony or take his pain. But there was something that he could give, and that was his care and attention. He walked up to Tony’s room and knocked softly.

Tony opened the door, and Steve sucked in a breath. Tony’s skin was wan and there were deep gray circles beneath his eyes. His normally impeccable hair flopped greasily into his face, and he was gritting his teeth against the obvious pain of walking around.

Still, he managed to plaster on a smile when he saw Steve.

“Cap. Far be it from me to fail to meet expectations, but I’m afraid I’m in no state to entertain you tonight.”

Steve leaned forward and laid a hand on Tony’s shoulder, trying to convey his care physically if not verbally. “That’s not what I’m here for.”

“Oh? Oh. I suppose you better come in then.” He pushed open the door and Steve followed him inside.

Tony turned and eyed him suspiciously. “If you’re not here for sex, then what…?”

Steve noticed that Tony’s hands weren’t shaking, and for once he didn’t smell of spirits. The thought that Tony was so ill that he was avoiding drinking made Steve worry even more.

“I just thought,” Steve reached out and brushed the sweaty hair from Tony’s forehead, trying to compose himself. “You seemed unwell, and I thought you might like some company.”

Tony flinched away from him. “It’s been a bad few days. I usually avoid other people when I’m like this. It’s not pretty.” He sounded ashamed, as if he were admitting a weakness.

With all the ugliness Steve had seen in his life, he wasn’t going to be put off by a bit of sickness. He shrugged and told Tony so, then encouraged him to get back in bed and fetched a damp washcloth and a glass of water. Tony fidgeted at first, but let Steve tend to him and to wipe the sweat from his brow.

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Tony said quietly, face pale against the pillow.

“I know I don’t have to,” Steve said, sitting on the bed beside him and stroking his hair. “But I want to. You do so much for me. You’re always there when I need you.”

Tony raised an eyebrow at that. “Mmm, I’m a real trooper, heroically and selflessly fucking Captain America as and when required. You know that I enjoy that too, right?”

Steve found himself smiling. “And I enjoy being here with you.” Tony pulled a disbelieving face at that. 

“Can I stay?” Steve asked, suddenly fearless about the possibility of rejection. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he left Tony when he was this ill.

“Mmm. Yeah, okay. I’ll try not to vomit on you.”

Steve kicked off his shoes and wrapped himself gently around Tony. He smelled of sweat and the sweet, sickly scent of illness. He seemed smaller and more fragile that Steve was used to. “I wouldn’t mind if you did,” he said earnestly.

Tony managed a weak laugh. “Kinky.”

Steve huffed and laid a protective hand over Tony’s chest.

“You’ve always got me when I need you, Tony. Now I’ve got you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [over here](http://cptxrogers.tumblr.com/post/166471373142/mutually-beneficial) on tumblr for the Ults Day celebration. Yay for Ults! I love this hot mess of a universe.


End file.
